Which may sound like some twaddle of a pitch for funding out of QUANGO, but here in Wivenhoe it more or less means making the Farmer’s Market more of a social occasion. The range of produce on sale has never been in any doubt; the opportunities for a good old gossip haven’t always been conducive.

What you need from an ethical organisation such as TTW is bacon.

Blimey.

Who can resist the call of the Congregational Hall at 9am on Saturday morning with an outdoor grill giving off the bacon buttie calling card? Some folk may not have even gone to bed at this early hour following a tired and emotional Friday night.

If the bacon doesn’t get you then the bicycles will. TTW walks it like it talks it – or even pedals, with Dr Bike again being incredibly popular. It felt a little frivolous in asking the good Doctor on how the chuffers to fix a new mudguard to the latest bicycle in the fleet.

Next month, maybe…

And so once the bacon and bicycles have acted as the eye candy for the Farmer’s Market, what grabs your attention once you are inside the Congregational Hall?

Add in the juices from the lovely Caribbean drinks stall, pork from Great Bentley and soap from the muddy banks of the Colne [sort of] and you can soon see how the Wivenhoe Farmer’s Market is anything but meat and two veg.

I did buy some sausages though.

But the buzz was all about the TTW Cafe. This has now become… sustainable, with the volunteer led service offering a real space in which to socialise and gossip after your bacon and bicycle experience.

The cafe keeps it hyperlocal; the customers keep on coming back.

The Wivenhoe Farmer’s Market has now become something of a Saturday morning activity club. Buying the weekly fruit and veg and chocoholics isn’t the main reason for your return. The Farmer’s Market is more about the conversation.